Lost
by GreenCat42
Summary: Kuvira blew up the factory where Team Avatar is, most everyone made it out, but one in particular and Varrick knows who.


Interrogating Bataar Jr. was going nowhere and things were moving too slowly for Varrick, but it wasn't his job to make the useless stubborn idiot talk. Well, he might be a better engineer than Varrick, but that admittance was already made once. Once was enough to bruise his ego, twice would crush it. Zhu Li silently stood next to him watching as Su tried to get him to back down.

_'If my Mother was talking like that to me, I'd listen,'_ Varrick thought. _'Or she'd feed me to a tiger seal."_

The cold icy sound of Kuvira's voice broke Varrick of his thoughts. That, that was a bad idea. She could trace their signal in a heartbeat, especially in that giant mecha. Korra wasn't thinking things through, like usual, but she was the Avatar. Varrick was about to speak up after Bataar Jr. talked to his fiancé when they heard the low booming hum of the spirit weapon. Kuvira wouldn't blow them all up and her fiancé would she? She wasn't **that** crazy was she?

Purple light lit up the room for a brief moment, Varrick turned towards Zhu Li seeing her bathed in it. She looked beautiful, but but…BOOM!

Darkness all around him! Varick was about to yell for Zhu Li to turn on the lights already, when he remembered. The factory they were in had been blown to smithereens by a giant metal mecha. Groans rose into the air, and rubble shifted as the various earth benders that were among their group moved the rubble. Panic flooded Varrick's chest making it hard to breath. "Zhu Li!" He called out again and again.

He listened, hoping to hear her soft sweet voice, but nothing. Varrick started frantically pushing aside rubble, calling out her name. "Zhu Li! Zhu Li!" Varrick cried his voice getting higher and higher cracking when he still couldn't find Zhu Li.

There was a thing he wanted to ask her, a very important special thing that involved another thing and-and he couldn't ask her if she was buried under rocks and debris. A gentle hand settled on his shoulder making his head whip around. "Varrick," said Bolin's voice. "We have to go, Kuvira's already in the city."

Tears filled Varrick's eyes and rolled down his cheeks. His chest hurt, his arms hurt, he couldn't find her. "Zhu Li…I can't f-find her!" He bawled his shoulders shaking.

He curled his dirt covered fingers into his hair tugging at the strands. "I-I need to find her Bolin! You know! I have to ask her the thing!" His voice was cracking like he was a boy.

"I'll get Lin," Bolin replied softly understanding in his eyes.

Varrick slumped over murmuring Zhu Li's voice over and over. "Varrick, Varrick, snap out of it!" Lin's voice snapped.

Varrick lifted his head up to face the tall earth bender. "I can't find her, you need to find her Lin!" He begged.

"You were right, he's out of his mind. Let me see what I can find," Lin said closing her eyes and stomping a foot on the ground.

Varrick knew she was seeing using seismic energy. Lin opened her eyes and pointed to a large chunk of rubble. "She's over there, I think. It's not easy to see when there's so much broken rock around," Lin said. "Let's go Bolin, we'll need to get her out."

A tiny seed of hope bloomed in his chest. They found her, but, but…Varrick refused to let his mind go there, the dark place in his mind that he ignored most of the time. Lin and Bolin earth bent the large chunk of rock out of the way and Varrick saw her hand limp under another rock. "Zhu Li?" He murmured as Lin moved the last rock out of place.

Her body was limp, her eyes closed. Varrick's hands shook as he gently brushed a stray piece of hair out of her face. He was too afraid to check to see if she was still breathing, only to find nothing there. Bolin knelt down next to Varrick and checked her pulse. "She's still breathing, she's only knocked out. The boulder above her protected her."

Varrick slid his arms under her and pulled her into his arms holding her close. "We need to get to the others now!" Lin said.

"Yes, we need to regroup and figure out another way to take that mecha out," Varrick replied forcing his mind to shift from Zhu Li to Kuvira.

Bolin gave him a strange look, but Varrick strode forward carrying Zhu Li; pushing back the pain, pushing back the worry, he had to protect her so he could do the thing properly.


End file.
